Cleveland BioLabs Inc. said Thursday that it received another infusion of cash from the Department of Defense that will help pay for the development of its experimental anti-radiation drug Entolimod.

The Buffalo, N.Y.-based biotech startup said it won a $770,442 increase under its existing $1.6 million Defense Threat Reduction Agency contract from January 2011.

"We are very pleased to have additional funding support from the DoD to conduct critical path mechanistic studies to advance Entolimod towards licensure," Michelle Ross, senior vice president of public health and government services for the company, said in a statement.
Entolimod, originally known as CBLB502, is being researched as a medical countermeasure to prevent death from exposure to lethal doses of ionizing radiation, such as from a terrorist dirty bomb attack or nuclear power plant accident. The company has received Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations for the drug from the Food and Drug Administration to help with the process of getting it to market. Last month, Cleveland BioLabs and FDA also reached a deal on animal efficacy studies for the drug.

In a June investor's day presentation, the company said research on the drug with monkeys showed that after two months 70 to 75 percent of Entolimod-treated animals survived exposure to lethal doses of radiation, compared with only a quarter of untreated animals.

More Industry Headlines